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Book 




i . H 



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A RADICAL CURE 



FOR THE 



Swarming Habit of Bees. 



HENRY JONES, M. D., 

PRESTON, MINNESOTA 



PRICE PER COPY, $1.00 

Copyright, 1910. By Henry Jones, M. D. 



A RADICAL CURE 



FOR THE 



Swarming Habit of Bees 



HENRY JONES, M. D. 

PRESTON, : MINNESOTA 



PRICE PER COPY $1.00 

Copyright, 1910. By Henry Jones, M. D. 



CU258964 









A Radical Cure for the Swarm- 
ing Habit of Bees. 



WHY WE KEEP BEES. 

The one essential in bee-keeping" is results. In 
this practical age the aim of every progressive bee- 
keeper is to obtain the greatest results with the least 
expenditure of time and labor. 

While some may engage in apiculture for recrea- 
tion or a love of the pursuit, without regard to pecun- 
iary returns, the great rank and file are so situated 
that they of necessity must look at the matter from a 
dollar and cent point of view. "How to Reduce the 
Cost of Honey Production to a Minimum," is the goal 
which they are seeking. 

All short cuts in bee-keeping and all plans to abol- 
ish unnecessary manipulation are receiving the 
thoughtful attention of all up-to-date bee-keepers. 
Much has been accomplished along these lines in the 
past and yet there is an urgent demand for better and 
simpler methods than are now employed. Bee-keepers 
like the rest of humanity often spend a great deal of 
time and labor to accomplish a very little thing. Need- 
less manipulation has a money value, whether per- 
formed by yourself or someone else, and adds to the 
cost of production. In .no subject relating to apicul- 
ture does this apply more strongly than it does to the 
swarming problem. Natural swarming as practiced by 
our grandfathers, has no place in modern bee-keeping. 
The methods advocated today are far ahead of natural 
swarming, yet none of them give entire satisfaction. 
Numerous and varied are the plans of swarm-control 
that do not control, system that do not prevent. There 
is an element of uncertainty and unrelial)ility about 
each and every method heretofore recommended. Some 



of them call for costly hives and fixtures, some for an 
endless amount of manipulation and some require all the 
skill of a trained expert to carry them into execution. 
None are infallible. What the bee-keeping world is 
watching and waiting for is some better plan — 
some simple, sure and reliable method that will 
prevent swarming at all times and under all circum- 
stances. Is there, or can there be any management, 
any process or treatment, that will fulfill these 
requirements? The answer expected would be '*No." 
The good old orthodox ways appeal strongly to the 
great majority of bee-keepers, and it seems a difficull 
thing for them to cut loose from the old methods that 
have the sanction of antiquity. The myths, fables and 
superstitions concerning bees — the heritage of our an- 
cestors — still clings to us with a strange persistency, 
and nearly every advance in bee-keeping has had to 
encounter the whims, prejudices and conservatism of 
the masses. In this day of progress and discovery is 
it safe to deny anything? Many of the unsolved enig- 
mas of the past are being solved today, and why 
should the non-swarming riddle remain without solu- 
tion. Now, brother and sister bee-keepers, it may cause 
you some surprise and it may awaken within you some 
skepticism when I make the bold and broad statement 
that I can outline a method of treatment that will cure 
the swarming feature every time and all the time. It 
will work wherever bees can as it is founded upon an 
instinct of the bee which is infallible. The treatment 
will cure the ''swarming impulse" if already acquired, 
or, if given before the bees think of swarming, will 
prevent swarm preparation. It is either a preventive 
measure or a curative measure, depending upon the 
time of giving treatment. It will and absolutely does 
prevent all swarming at all times and under all cir- 
cumstances notwithstanding that old legend that "Bees 
Do Nothing Invariably." 

2 



HOW TO PREVENT SWARMING. 

Not wishing to tax your credulity to the breaking 
point, nor wishing you to think these Hues penned in 
a spirit of egotism, I will desist from any further pre- 
liminary statements and outline the plan which I have 
followed for the four years past. 

"Use all the wxll known methods early in the 
spring to get the colonies strong in bees before the 
honey flow is on. Then when the hives are full to 
overflowing with bees and you have all the force you 
want, all the bees needed to gather the harvest, go to 
these mammoth colonies,/^open the hives, and with 
the uncapping knife or some other sharp instrument, 
uncap all the sealed brood you find except two 
frames of the sealed brood in each hive, which 
you leave undisturbed. The two frames of hatching 
brood will keep up the strength of the colony during 
the honey flow. Any time within fifteen days give a 
second treatment, the same as the first, if you find 
any colonies making preparations to swarm. This 
treatment wil prevent all swarming and enable the 
bee-keeper to keep his whole force of workers to- 
gether during the honey harvest. The bees at once 
begin to drag out the headless brood and scatter 
them far and wide, and in from twelve to twenty-four 
hours every vestige of brood operated upon will be 
removed from the hive. The bees will polish up the 
cells from which they have removed the dead brood 
and the queen will begin laying in them at once instead 
of the bees plugging them full of honey as might be ex- 
pected. The bees start to work at once with all the vim 
and energy of a prime swarm without any further at- 
tempt to swarm out. It is simply wonderful how quick- 
ly a hive full of loafers can be transformed into the 
most energetic workers." 

3 



ADVANTAGES GAINED. 

Now let us see what the advantages of this 
method are as compared with the methods previously 
published, i. It starts the bees to work immediately 
and there will be no loafing, sulking or obsconding of 
swarms, as so frequently happens with shook swarm- 
ing or other well known methods of swarm control. 2. 
It represents the saving of an endless amount of labor 
as compared with other methods. Five to ten minutes 
is ample time for the first operation and still less if a 
second is needed. The bees of that colony are then ef- 
fectually cured of all swarm preparations for that sea- 
son. As a time saver it is without a parallel in bee- 
keeping. Manipulation takes time and has a money 
value to the bee-keeper. It takes an enormous amount 
of time to carry out some of the non-swarming systems 
and when handling colonies by the hundred it takes a 
large share of the honey croy to pay for the time spent 
in useless manipulation. 3. The treatment is es- 
pecially adapted to the comb honey producer's needs, 
making it as easy to raise comb as extracted honey. The 
whole of his working force can be kept together thru- 
out the honey flow without any desire to swarm, and 
every comb honey producer will readily understand 
what that means. Out yards can be established, and 
comb honey raised cheaper and with less labor than 
extracted honey is today with present methods. 

''As a rule give the treatment to the comb 
honey colonies at the time you put on the second 
super which should be given when the first super is 
about half or two-thirds full. This is about the 
time the bees usually make preparations to swarm. 
The first super should be given about ten days be- 
fore the honey flow is on. When you have all the 
bees you want, give them the treatment, paying no 
attention to whether they are making preparations 
to swarm or not. In either case they will not swarm. 



Give the treatment to all the colonies that are full of 
bees. Then, on the next round notice all colonies 
that are working energetically and let them severely 
alone unless they require more super room; and, if 
so, give it to them. You can rest assured that there 
are no swarm preparations, no need of making an 
examination of the brood rest. If any colonies are 
found loafing, hanging out, or working in a listless, 
half-hearted way, and have not accomplished much 
in the supers, open the hive and examine the brood 
nest as swarm preparations are under way. Give 
them the second treatment at this juncture, ^ and 
you will have 'knocked swarming in the head' for 
the season as far as that colony is concerned. The 
comb honey producer can feel that he is master of 
the situation, being able to run his bees and not have 
his bees run him." 
4. It is equally adapted to the producer of ex- 
tracted honey. While it is true that in raising extract- 
ed honey, swarming is more easily controlled if supers 
are given early and often enough so that there will be 
an abundance of room at all times and no crowding of 
brood nest. Swarming can in this wav be reduced to 
a minimum. But in order to carry it into effect the 
queen must be allowed to roam through the supers at her 
own inclination. When the brood chamber becomes 
crowded she establishes a brood nest in the first super 
and sometimes in the second, and as the honey season 
advances there will be preparations for swarming in 
spite of the abundance of room. It is a well known 
fact that a swarm of bees with a crowded brood nest 
will swarm even if hived in a barrel or in an attic, as 
the room outside the brood nest proper cuts no figure. 
And look at the conditions when the bees are managed 
by giving them plenty of super room. As soon as the 
queen moves to the first super the bees will commence 
plugging the old brood nest full of pollen as fast as the 
young bees hatch out and you have a worthless lot of 

5 



pollen clogged combs on your hands. The brood nest 
will generally be found empty of honey, requiring the 
feeding of the bees to supply stores for winter. If an 
excluder is used the bees will fill up the brood nest 
with winter stores, the same as when raising comb 
honey, and are not inclined to store everything above. 
When extracting frames with young unsealed brood in 
the extracting room is no place for company. By the cut- 
ting out capped brood plan of managing swarming you 
put a queen excluder over the brood nest and confine 
the queen below where she belongs. 

"When your extracting colony is full to over- 
flowing with bees, open the hive and with your knife 
cut the heads off. all the capped brood except the 
two frames left to make good the loss of fielders. As 
a matter of fact give them the same treatment as the 
comb-honey colony. Give second treatment if any 
colonies require it. If on your next visit you find 
the bees going in and out with a rush, pay no atten- 
tion to it except to give plenty or room in the supers. 
Examine any that are found clustered out and tak- 
ing life easy. You will find them preparing to 
swarm. Repeat the treatment and dismiss all 
thought of their swarming from your mind. No 
one would tolerate a brood nest in a second story if 
it were not that it retards swarming. Certainly a 
great improvement over the present methods when 
the queen can be kept below and the supers free 
from brood and pollen and the matter of increase 
under perfect control. 
5. It does away with all non-swarming hives and 
devices, all self-hivers, and all swarm controllers that 
cost money. Besides these are usually unsatisfactory 
and unreliable. The treatment here outlined does not 
cost a single penny's investment to carry it out ; no ex- 
tra capital invested to add to the cost of production. 
Every bee-keeper has or should have a smoker and an 
uncapping knife as a part of his equipment. 6. There 

6 



is no hunting of queens with all its vexations. Neither 
is there any caging or clipping of queens or need for 
any extra attention directed toward her. There is no 
pinching of queen cells as the bees will attend to that 
better than it can be done by the hand of man. No 
stacking of brood on other colonies, no bumping of 
hives around, nor shaking of bees into another hive and 
compelling them to build a new brood nest during the 
honey flow. No interruption of the queen's laying 
right along in the old brood nest. All of these take up 
valuable time right in the busy season when the rush 
is on, and even then, after all such fussing, there is no 
assurance that the bee-keeper has accomplished that 
which he set out to do. His expectations may be real- 
ized and then again they may not. 

7. The ease and simplicity of the treament makes 
it a boon to the amateur iDee-keeper. The man with a 
few bees on a village lot can give treatment and go on 
about his business knowing that he has his bees under 
control. The farmer with a few stands of bees to fur- 
nish honey for his own use, can give them the treat- 
ment at his leisure feeling confident that he will not be 
called from his work by that old familiar cry, "The 
bees are swarming." The professional with his out- 
yards can raise either comb or extracted honey feeling- 
sure that there will be no absconding of swarms during 
his absence. And whether he be amateur or specialist, 
he can care for double the number of colonies and can 
double the amount of his honey crop with the same 
amount of labor. The cost of production will be so 
cheapened that honey will not be considered a luxury. 
When this plan of treatment becomes generally known, 
the honey production of the world will be doubled. 

8. The treatment will cure the swarming impulse 
after queen cells are built and capped over, and it will 
also prevent swarming if applied before the bees have 
made any preparations to swarm. Therein consists its 
great superiority over any and all known non-swarm- 



ing methods. All other systems require to be carried 
out before the bees think of swarming. All plans 
hitherto advocated have been preventative and not cur- 
ative measures. All authorities agree that their methods 
are not remedial methods and all admit that they do 
not know of any such method. The simple fact that it 
will cJause the bees to destroy the queen cells after they 
are built and prevent their swarming out stamps it as 
being as far ahead of other methods as an express train 
is ahead of an ox team. 9. If you desire to re-queen 
you have on hand a nice lot of choice queen-cells raised 
under the swarming impulse. No occasion to search 
for a non-swarming race of bees ! no necessity of try- 
ing to breed out the swarming instinct, for at all times 
you have swarm control right under your thumb. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 

Again, what are some of the disadvantages of this 
system? Objections such as these are all of a minus 
quantity, i. "Not adapted to the man who keeps his 
bees in the 'invisible brood chamber hives.' better 
known in common parlance as the straw skep. the box 
hive, the log gum and the proverbial nail keg. Neither 
the bees nor the man can see what is going on within 
the hives. Yet both the bees and the man seem satis- 
fied. That kind of bee-keeper seems to keep bees for 
the exercise and excitement he gets out of it chasing 
swarms, climbing trees and hiving swarms. The heat, 
sweat and stings makes him think that swarming is 
the chief end or apiculture. Such a trifle as a honey 
yield is a minor consideration with him. 2. Cutting 
off the heads of so much sealed brood may seem a cruel 
useless ''slaughter of the innocents." Admitting, for 
the sake of argument, that it is, does man hesitate to 
sterilize and weed out all inferior animals even tho his 
methods involve pain and even death. All our methods 
of preparing animal food inflict cruelty and death upon 
the animal. Again, the brood beheaded, if it had been 



left undisturbed would not have hatched out in time to 
help gather the harvest. They would arrive upon the 
scene at a time to become consumers and not produc- 
ers. The unsealed brood, together with the newly laid 
eggs in the empty cells from which the bees have re- 
moved the brood will hatch out in time to assist with 
the fall flov/, if there should be one, and your colonies 
will go into winter quarters as strong as they would 
have been if the capped brood had not been destroyed. 
It seems the only way to knock the swarming impulse 
out of their head. Taking a few frames of brood away 
at a time or taking it all away at once and replacing it 
with empty combs or foundation will not cure the bees' 
impulse to swarm. Cutting out of the brood will stop 
all swarming. It seems to require a heroic remedy to 
put a quietus on the swarming habit. 

Instinct teaches the bee that its very existence de- 
pends upon a prolific queen and a well regulated and 
ample brood nest. As long as these conditions are 
prensent the colony works on in contentment, but as 
soon as the brood nest becomes crowded and there is 
no place for the queen to deposit her eggs, instinct 
teaches the bee that its existence is imperiled and they 
become discouraged and swarm out to establish a new 
home. If the brood nest should sustain an injury in 
any way nature teaches the bee to repair it at once. 
These instincts seem to be inborn and a part of the 
very nature of the bee. It appears reasonable to me 
that uncapping the brood would have about the same 
efifect upon the bee in regard to its swarming out as 
we would be affected if we had made preparations for 
a journey and some giant would come along, tear the 
roof off from over our heads, destroy our furniture, 
kill our babies and raise cain generally. Our desire to 
travel would be squelched forthwith and we would stay 
at home the same as the bees do. We might start in at 
once to repair the aamage done to our home or we 
might give up in despair. Bee nature being built along 



different lines at once applies itself to the wreck and 
starts to repair the damage done its home. The dead 
are carried out, the cells are cleaned up and the queen 
has ample room to lay ag'ain. Everything in the econ- 
omy of the hive goes on as before, the bees having no 
desire to swarm until the brood nest again becomes 
crowded, when bee nature again asserts itself and they 
once more begin to make preparations to swarm. But 
the bee's thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are 
my thoughts the bee's thoughts, so if I have not inter- 
preted their actions aright you have the privilege of 
giving a better explanation. One guess is as good as 
another as long as it cannot be demontrated to a 
mathematical certainty. Admitting that bees do freak- 
things at times, is it not a conceded fact that a colony 
of bees under normal conditions will not make prepar- 
ations to swarm as long as the queen has ample room 
in the brood nest to deposit her eggs. And is it not 
also an established fact that when the brood nest be- 
comes congested and the queen is restricted in her 
egg-laying, that then, and not until then, does the 
swarming instinct assert itself? Examination of a 
colony prior to swarming when queen cells are under 
way shows the outside combs full of honey and pollen, 
the inside combs full of sealed brood, eggs and larva, 
with honey in top and corners of c enter frames, the 
sealed brood predominating in the outer frames of the 
brood nest proper, and open brood in the center, and 
nearly every cell in the hive filled with honey, pollen 
or brood and no room for the queen to lay — an ideal 
condition to cause the bees to become discontented. 
Bees thrown into an abnormal condition will often 
swarm out ; starvation swarms, colonies infested with 
worms and with their combs a mass of web, shaken 
swarms that have been bumped and banked and shak- 
en out and compelled to establish themselves in a new 
home, thinking their condition could not be worse, in 
their discouragement swarm and light out for pastures 



new. The condition of the brood nest cuts no figure 
with them, but be it remembered that they have been 
thrown into an abnormal condition, and the vagaries 
of been nature under abnormal conditions is past com- 
prehension. Given all other conditions that lead to 
swarming minus a crowded brood nest and there is no 
swarming. Natural swarming, shook swarming, cag- 
ing the queen all have as their underlying principle 
and do directly or indirectly relieve the congested con- 
dition of the brood nest. The Aspinwall non-swarm- 
ing hive has as its leading feature the prevention of 
swarming by breaking up the solid brood nest. That is 
the one feature common to all methods of swarm con- 
trol. It resolves itself into what is the simplest, sur- 
est and safest method of accomplishing this end. As 
an easy, sure method, the uncapping brood plan stands 
in a class by itself. 

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 

Some of my bee-keeping friends have requested 
that I give the steps that led up to the discovery of 
the treatment herein outlined. Being somewhat in 
doubt as to its being of sufficient interest to the reader, 
and also thinking that it might take up more space 
than the scope of this little booklet would warrant, my 
first impulse was to decline, but finally decided to give 
the details as briefly as possible. In order to do so will 
have to refer a little to "ancient history." I engaged in 
bee-keeping on a small scale away back in the "seven- 
ties." Found the pursuit extremely fascinating and 
soon had a bad case of "bee fever" on my hands. My 
enthusiasm did not develop into a mania for inventing 
a hive as is usually the case with beginners. In 1878 
one colony was worked for comb honey and the pro- 
ceeds of that one hive netted thirty dollars. Kept them 
from swarming by pinching off the queen cells — a pro- 
cedure which worked satisfactorily in that particular 
case. That was the beginning of a non-swarming 

11 



mania that has possessed me ever since. Wished then 
as I have thousands of times since that there was some 
safe, sure and easy method to prevent swarming entire- 
ly. A combination of circumstances made it necessary 
that I dispose of my bees and active professional life 
and the want of a suitable location prevented me from 
again taking up the work for a quarter of a century. 
Since my first' experience as a bee-keeper until he 
present I have seldom talked with a bee-keeper with- 
out winding up by asking him how he controlled 
swarming and any article published on the subject al- 
ways received careful reading. The very inception or 
rather the beginning of the train of thought that led 
up to the present treatment was due to an article that 
appeared in the American Bee Journal for March ist, 
1906, on page 185 and signed, "C. Davenport, South- 
ern Minnesota." The writer stated that he had discov- 
ered a treatment that would absolutely prevent all 
swarming; that he gave a treatment that could be done 
in five minutes or less and in from one to fifteen days 
a second treatment requiring less than two minutes. 
He said that there was no hunting queens, no pinching 
of queen cells and no bumping of hives around ; that 
he had given the treatment to hundreds of colonies and 
that none of them had swarmed, but he failed to give 
the treatment. In the same journal for July 12th, 1906, 
on page 602 he refuses to make his treatment known 
and gives his reasons that it would make bee-keeping 
too easy and honey too cheap. Never having read an 
article on swarming that impressed me as that did, and 
the matter kept "simmering" in my mind for days and 
weeks. Sought to discover the treatment he gave his 
l^ees by a process of exclusion, as medical men fre- 
(juenth^ do when they have a complication of symp- 
toms and are not just sure what ails the patient. Rea- 
soned that the treatment he gave his colonies must be 
one of two kinds — either medical or surgical. Medical 
treatment was soon excluded as being out of the ques- 

12 



tioii. Then it must of necessity be of a siirg-ical nature. 
Surgical treatnient of the hive was impossible so the 
iiive was eliminated. There then remained the queen, 
w^orkers, drones, brood and possibly queen cells to be 
operated upon. But he had stated that he did not even 
look for the queen or queen cells, so they were exclud- 
ed from being a factor in the problem to be solved. 
There now remained the worker, the drones and the 
brood to be treated. It being a self-evident propostion 
that he could not catch all the drones or workers and 
operate upon them in five minutes, they too were ex- 
cluded, leaving only the brood for a surgical operation 
of five minutes or less. To decide what surgical opera- 
tion he performed on the brood was the hardest part of 
the whole proposition. Thought of cutting the brood 
out of the frames, but thought of the drone comb they 
would build if compelled to build a brood nest anew, 
and not knowing how to dispose of the brood after 
cutting it out, that idea was abondoned as poor surg- 
ery. Then I thought of mutilating the brood in some 
manner and also of uncapping it. The uncapping 
scheme looked the most plausible as I had somewhere 
read that in hives where there was an excess of drone 
brood the bees would immediately remove it from the 
cells if it was uncapped. Why would they not serve 
worker brood the same way? This treatment looked 
the most plausible of any that suggested itself to I de- 
termined to try it out. The idea that the effect of the 
operation would be to relieve a crowded brood nest 
had not as yet dawned upon my mind. In due course 
of time I found a colony building queen cells prepara- 
tory to swarming out. I determined to uncap all the 
sealed brood if it ruined the colony. In two days af- 
ter uncapping the brood I made an examination of the 
hive and found the capped queen cells torn down and 
the young queens removed and the bees made no fur- 
ther preparations to swarm that season. Candor com- 
pels me to say that they did not do anything else to 

13 



boast of. Too much dwindling and not enough recruits 
to enforce the workers. They built up in good shape and 
were strong in numbers for the fall flow. Did not try 
any further experiments on any of the colonies during 
1906. When 1907 season was on I operated upon two 
colonies leaving some of the sealed brood to reinforce 
the workers. Again in 1908 tried the treatment upon a 
few colonies successfully, concluding before the season 
was over that two solid frames of brood in each hive 
was sufficient to make good the losses of the field bees. 
Not having enough bees at any time to give the treat- 
ment a thorough test, it was deferred until the past 
season (1909) to try it out. Will digress enough to 
state that my confidence in this treament was further 
strengthened by an article written by F. Cloverdale of 
Maquoketa, Iowa, which appeared in the June number 
of the ''Bee-keeper's Review." 1907. It was entitled 
"Controlling Increase By Cutting Out the Brood." He 
stated that : 

''Any plan that rids the hive of all brood, kills 
all swarming just as effectually as if natural swarm- 
ing had taken place. His plan consists in cutting 
out and removing all the brood, leaving the honey 
parts in the frames. Setting the brood in a box 
with a screen cone on one side and moved up close 
to the entrance of the old hive, the young bees 
hatched out constantly and reinforced the old hive. 
The cut out combs had to be spaced in the box so as 
not to touch each other and enough bees run in to 
clean up the drippings and furnish heat for the 
brood. And this plan required further that enough 
honey be cut out with the brood to last until all the 
bees were hatched — the empty brood combs in the 
hatching box being finally melted up into wax." 

The queer part of it is that Mr. Cloverdale stum- 
bled right over one of the most important discoveries 
of the last half century but failed to recognize its pos- 

14 



sibilities. Further along in his article he makes this 

statement : 

"To manipulate colonies so as not to swarm at 
all when run for comb honey is a thing yet to be dis- 
covered." 
It read to me like another case of history repeat- 
ing itself While it is true that Langsroth was not 
really the inventor of the movable frame hive, he was 
the inventor of the first practical movable frame hive, 
a hive that was of real use to the world. To Huber, 
the Swiss, belongs the credit of inventing the first 
movable frame, but his invention was impracticable 
and not adapted to bee-keeping on a commercial scale. 
Returning again to the season of 1909, having set- 
tled upon a routine of treatment to be carried out, will 
state that I began the season with fifty-four colonies 
in ten-frame dove-tailed hives with Hoffman frames. 
Ten colonies were Italians and the rest were hybrids-- 
the apiary being located upon the back part of two vil- 
lage lots. Owing to a cold late spring they built up 
slowly in the earlv part of the season. The weather be- 
ing more favorable from May 15th to June 15th, they 
built up rapidly and were in good condition for the 
honev flow from white clover that began about that 
time 'and was at its best from June 20th to July 5th, 
when a severe drouth began to make itself felt Seven- 
teen colonies were worked for comb honey and the re- 
maining thirty-seven for extracted. From June 26th 
to July I2th the swarming season was on m earnest, 
the most of them preparing to swarm out within ten 
days after June 26th. Of the seventeen colonies 
worked for comb honey, twelve of them built queen 
cells and were given the treatment .one of them being 
operated upon after it had started to swarm out an 
account of which will be given later. Getting behind 
with mv work two colonies were given the treatment 
before making swarm preparations as they were very 
populous and^he treatment was given as a preventa- 

15 



live. Only one comb honey colony made swarming 
preparations after the treatment was given. That col- 
ony had a poor lot of brood combs, quite a large per- 
centage of drone comb, and some of the remaining 
combs badly clogged with old pollen which the bees 
were trying to chew up and carry out. They seemed 
to be hampered for room to establish a normal sized 
brood nest. It was given the second treatment nine 
days after the first one. None of the fourteen colonies 
treated made any further preparations to swarm but 
worked on with untiring energy giving a good account 
of themselves as honey gatherers. Three of the comb 
honey hives made no attempt at swarming. They were 
weak colonies that were late in building up and were 
of the number I had intended to run for extracted 
honey but had been forced to give them supers with 
sections owing to a delayed order for supplies. They 
built up to the swarming point and made each about 
a super full of honey and would have needed a treat- 
ment soon only the drouth set in and cut short the 
flow of honey to such an extent that there were no 
more swarm preparations by any of the colonies in the 
apiary. In applying the treatment to the comb honey 
colonies my aim was to let them build cells and get as 
near to the swarming out point as possible without 
actually swarming. The same methods was applied 
to extracting colonies but more of that later. Opening 
the hives and examining frames for queen cells made 
work and plenty of it, too, and if the method had to be 
carried out along such lines it would have but little to 
commend it. I did not wish to leave a single loop hole 
for some doubting Thomas to jump up and say that 
perhaps my bees wouldn't have swarmed if I had left 
them alone, so in testing the plan for publication I 
proposed to know just how many were preparing to 
swarm and their condition at all times, and also to 
know the effect of the treatment given. If it was or 
was not a cure for swarming I wanted to know the 

16 



facts. In order to show the severe test it was put to 
I will now give a brief outline of colony No. 36, with 
a pure Italian queen one year old. Records show that 
it was examined June 2^) and no queen cells found, 
strong in bees and brood and working in the comb 
honey super. Owing to press of work I could not ex- 
amine them again June 30th. July ist I noticed that 
they were clustering out and not working as they 
should. The next day, July 2nd, as I was working 
near them with a smoker in working order, I was dis- 
mayed to see the bees suddenly rush pell mell out of 
the hive just as I was on the point of examining them. 
Tried smoking them to stop their rush but they kept 
coming right out thru the smoke. Finally as a last 
resort I grabbel up a small piece of board lying near 
and closed the entrance with it, all but about two 
inches at one end. Into this small entrance I blew 
clouds of smoke until I had them partly quieted and 
then I stopped it up with grass. Went next to the 
bee house and procured a piece of perforated zinc. Af- 
ter adjusting it I stepped back to await results. The 
bees swarmed out at once and after circling around for 
several minutes without clustering, they finally began 
going back into the hive. I knew then that I had suc- 
ceeded in imprisoning the queen, but was afraid to 
open the hive for fear they would swarm out. So de- 
cided to wait until the next morning to look them 
over. This happened about 8:00 a. m., and about 
11:00 a. m. they came out again, circled around and 
once more returned to the hive. At about 3 p. m. the 
performance was again repeated. Early on the morn- 
ing of July 3rd I opened the hive and counted fourteen 
queen cells in various stages of development, three of 
them being capped over. Slashed off all the heads of 
the capped brood found in six frames, leaving two 
frames of nearly solid capped brood. Took especial 
care not to disturb any of the queen cells, and then 
closed up the hive wondering what they would do. 

17 



Was in the apiary all of that day but they did not once 
offer to swarm out, l)ut worked for dear life dragging 
out dead brood. Opened the hive again July 4th and 
found the capped queen cells torn open and the young- 
queens removed. That colony made no further at- 
tempt to cwarm and gave me nearly one hundred 
pounds of nice comb honey despite the drouth that 
came on soon after. Certainly no severer test of any 
non-swarming system could be made. 

I will also give a condensed statement as to how 
the extracting colonies were managed. Having six 
queen excluders, they were placed over six of the larg- 
est colonies at the time they were given their first 
super. They all made preparations to swarm. They 
were given the treatment and no further attempts at 
swarming were made. Procured a dozen more exclud- 
ers later and used them where the queen was found 
below, selecting populous colonies when possible. Not 
all of them built cells, due to the lateness of their use, 
perhaps. Besides the six colonies mentioned above 
there were nine other colonies devoted to extracting 
that built queen cells and were given the treatment, 
and only one made preparations to swarm again and 
had to be given a second treatment. Only two out of 
twenty-nine colonies thus far operated upon required 
the second treatment. I will now account for the other 
twenty-two extracting colonies, for the reader may 
have gotten the impression by this time that I had no 
swarming, wdiich would be erroneous. Will digress 
long enough to state that thirty extracting supers or- 
dered thru a local dealer failed to materialize until a 
month too late for the rush and the extracting colonies 
were crowded for room, which accounts in a measure 
for the large percentage of swarm preparation. Office 
duties, wiring of frames and putting in of foundation 
consumed so much time that the colonies could not all 
be examined every seven days as had been originally 
intended and as a result three colonies that had not re- 

18 



ceived treatment threw off swarms and were managed 
as follows. The first swarm that issued was hived on 
frames containing starters and placed upon the old 
stand. The old hive with super on was moved to one 
side as I intended to give the new swarm the old super 
as soon as they had drawn out sufficient comb to es- 
tablish a brood nest. The weather being excessively 
hot and the bees being unable to break their cluster, 
became dissatisfied and deserted their hive the next 
day and settled on a low branch of an apple tree. Be- 
fore they could be hived a swarm issued from another 
hive and settled with it on the same branch. Hived 
both swarms in the hive with starters, capturing one 
queen as they were running in, and set the hive back 
on its original stand. Opened the old hive from which 
the first swarm issued and uncapped all brood but two 
frames and was very careful not to disturb any capped 
queen cells. After operation, placed old hive over new 
double swarm with a queen excluder between, putting 
the super on top, making a three story hive. Result, 
queen cells destroyed and no further attempt at 
swarming out. The hive from which the second swarm 
issued had all queen cells destroyed but one on the 
seventh day and no swarm issued from that hive. 

The next day another swarm issued from a colony 
that had not been treated. Hived it on frames with 
full sheets of foundation setting the old hive to one 
side and placing new hive on old stand. At once gave 
old colony treatment and placed it on new hive with 
excluder between and extracting super on top — the 
same procedure as before. It destroyed the queen 
cells and made no further attempt at swarming. The 
plan was a success in the two cases mentioned and is 
worthy a trial when no increase is desired. The 
method outlined prevented all increase in the number 
of colonies. There were fifty-four colonies spring- 
count and fifty-four when the swarming season was 
over. The remaining nineteen colonies which were run 

19 



to extracting made no attempt at swarming, but three 
of the stronger colonies were given the treatment, as 
a preventative as they were becoming populous and I 
was getting somewhat tired of making such frequent 
examinations. The three made no preparations to 
swarm. The sixteen remaining colonies that did not 
arrive at the swarming point were colonies that were 
weak in the spring and were slow in building up and 
by giving them super room the swarming impulse was 
retarded. A summary of the season's work would be 
as follows : 

Of the seventeen colonies run for comb honey : 
II were given the treatment after queen cells were 
built. 

2 were given the treatment as a preventative of 
swarming. 

1 was given the treatment after swarming out had 
commenced. 

3 made no preparations to swarm. 

Of the thirty-seven colonies run for extracted 
honey : 

15 were given the treatment after queen cells were 
built. 

3 were given the treatment as a preventative 
measure. 

2 were given the treatment after swarming and 
before uniting. 

I had all queen cells but one pinched off on sev- 
enth day. 

16 made no preparations to swarm. 

One comb honey colony and one extracting col- 
ony made preparations to swarm the second time and 
were given the second treatment. 

In no single instance did a colony swarm out that 
had received the treatment. Neither did any of the 
few colonies that were treated during 1906, 1907, 1908 
swarm. 

Whether the method of swarm control here de- 

20 



scribed is really the C. Davenport secret or not will 
never be known unless perchance some of his neigh- 
bors have knowledge of it for in the article of March 
1st, 1906, referred to, he speaks of operating upon his 
neighbors' bees free of cost in order to test the treat- 
ment. If it is not his treatment, it at least fulfills 
every indication claimed for his method. The Bee 
Journals for July, 1908, announced that C. Davenport, 
whose real name was C. Daevnport Monette, met an 
untimely death one night in June when his house 
burned down and that he was a resident of Chatfield, 
Minn. For the information of the reader will say that 
Chatfield is a town fifteen miles north of here. 

Now, as to whether uncapping a less amount of 
the sealed brood would prevent all swarming or not, 
is a problem that I have not as yet tested out. Perhaps 
if one-third or even one-half of the sealed brod was 
allowed to remain, the over-crowded condition of the 
brood nest might be relieved sufficiently to cause the 
bees to abandon swarm preparations. My experiments 
ranged between leaving two frames of sealed brood 
and uncapping all there was in the hive. If a less 
amount of uncapping would "knock swarming in the 
head" it would be an advantage to the timid bee-keep- 
er who might have some compunction of conscience 
about destroying so much sealed brood. Personally I 
do not consider the matter of material importance as 
the plan outlined gives all the workers needed for the 
clover and basswood flow in our northern climate, and 
the open brood left undisturbed, together with the 
newly laid eggs that have been deposited in the cells 
from which the uncapped brood has been removed, 
gives an army of workers for the late fall flow, with- 
out having a hive full of consumers right after the first 
honey flow is over. The plan can be adapted to south- 
ern conditions where the swarming season begins a 
month or so earlier than the main honey flow. Can see 
no reason why the plan cannot be adapted to any lo- 

21 



cality where bees are kept. It is bound to revolution- 
ize bee-keeping all over the world or I am woefully 
mistaken in my judgment. 

It is perhaps hardly necessary to caution the read- 
er not to use this method if his apiary is infected with 
foul brood, owing to the danger of carry the disease 
from infected to healthy colonies. 

And now, brother and sister bee-keepers, allow 
me to state in conclusion that I have outlined a simple 
plan of swarm control that the bee-keeping world 
knows nothing about so far as I am aware. And I of- 
fer it to you for your approval or condemnation. At 
a rough guess I expect nine out of ten of you to read 
the statements herein made with a good deal of sus- 
picion, furthermore I expect all of you to accept them 
with a "grain of salt." All I ask of you is that you give 
the plan a fair trial for I know that you will be sur- 
prised at the results. The treatment being so simple 
and easy and the results so surprising it was a difficult 
matter for me to believe it myself even after having 
proof right before my eyes. After you have given it a 
trial I feel sure that you will not consider my state- 
ments extravagant and when the full extent of its pos- 
sibilities are realized the bee-keeping world will render 
their verdict in accordance with the claims I have 
made for the treatment. 



22 



APPENDIX 

All copies of the previous edition on swarm pre- 
vention having been sold out, it becomes necessary to 
get out a new edition. 

Do not consider it advisable to rewrite the pamph- 
let as the new matter I wish to offer can best be em- 
bodied in a brief appendix. 

The major portion of the criticisms that have 
reached me, have been quite favorable, but a few lead- 
ing bee-keepers of the country have decided convic- 
tions against uncapping worker brood, claiming they 
could never get their colonies too strong — that they 
needed every worker they could get to help gather the 
harvest. Certainly good logic, provided they secured 
their army of workers before the honey flow was on, 
and provided further that the pesky bees do not take a 
notion to swarm right in the midst of the harvest. A 
couple of correspondents from the Southern states do 
not think the plan adapted to their particular localities 
where the honey flow is intermittent, consisting of 
short flows extending over a long period of time. They 
claim that shook swarming can not be practiced suc- 
cessfully, that their only resource is to cage the queen 
for eight or ten days. To those who object to uncap- 
ping worker brood and to those who live in localities 
with a succession of short honey flows a non-swarm- 
ing plan will be given that has every indication^ of 
meeting their requirements. It dovetails in very nice- 
ly with the method given in my booklet and has all the 
indications of meeting the requirements of the class of 
bee-keepers referred to. The plan was new to me and 
I am not aware that it has ever been published. At the 
annual meeting of the Fillmore County Bee Associa- 
tion, held in Preston, Minn., Dec. 8 and 9, 1909, a 

33 



young man by the name of Paul Bigalk of Cresco, 
Iowa, outlined his method of preventing swarming. 
Wrote him asking him to describe his method and re- 
quested the privilege of publishing it, which was grant- 
ed. His reply being substantially as follows : 

"Have over fifty colonies of Italian bees in ten 
frame standard dovetailed hives. For three years I 
have practiced uncapping all drone brood and at the 
same time pinching off all queen cells to prevent 
swarming. One treatment is enough to prevent swarm- 
ing for the entire season if well done and done at the 
right time. I prefer to do this when there is a good 
honey flow on and the bees ready to swarm. Be sure 
that the bees have plenty of room to work. If there is 
no drone comb, then worker comb must be taken in- 
stead. This treatment has been a success with me. As 
I remember I have only had two or three swarms since 
using it. Have used this method on about thirty-five 
colonies each year." 

In colonies having a large amount of drone comb 
Mr. Bigalk's plan has much to commend it, as it serves 
the double purpose of controlling the swarming im- 
pulse as well as getting rid of a lot of useless drones. 
Personally I have had no experience in uncapping 
drone brood to prevent swarming as I uncap both 
drone and worker fast as I come to it. Have but very 
little drone comb in the brood nest. Exchange for full 
sheets of foundation and use the drone comb in the ex- 
tracting super. A young man near here with seventy- 
five colonies restricted swarming to twelve swarms last 
season my simply uncapping all the drone brood 
found in the hives. Being the first season that he had 
tried the scheme and matters being as yet in the ex- 
perimental stage, he declined to have his name men- 
tioned in connection with the plan. It certainly had 
quite an effect in controlling the swarming fever, for 
with our hot days and rapid honey flow during the clo- 
ver season the bees seem to have a regular mania for 

24 



swarming in this locality. Judging from present indi- 
cations there will be a thorough trial given the plan 
this coming season and with the additional methods 
given it should be entirely feasible to evolve a perfect 
system of swarm control that would be adapted to 
every locality, every condition and every climate. 



25 



MAR 



l9tD 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 841 809 7 



